


14,000,606

by Rosella1356



Series: Pride Writeblr Event 2020 [7]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Change Fates, M/M, None of the universes were good, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Strange looked at as many options as he could stomach, Time Travel, but the one they won wasn't fair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:07:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24998071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosella1356/pseuds/Rosella1356
Summary: This the universe that happens after Strange falls in love with Tony after watching him fight and die for the world over fourteen million times.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Pride Writeblr Event 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1801411
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55





	14,000,606

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last prompt for the writeblr pride event. The color is violet and the prompt was spirits.

Stephen looks up from Titan they’re sitting on with tears streaming down his face. He can barely form thoughts anymore. If he thought living through a time when he died each time was awful enough, this was worse. This was worse because he saw all of the different versions of the people right here, and he can’t honestly say that he wasn’t compromised. 

Tony turns to him with such hope in his eyes. That’s been a constant in enough world’s that Strange almost breaks down again. “Did you find one where we win?”

Strange could lie. He’s done that in a few of the universes that he saw. The ones since he started watching, the ones where he’s in love with Tony Stark. Then, he knows from the bottom of his heart that he has to. They can’t start from this point. If they do, Tony Stark must die, and he will not allow that. He will not allow the world to end like that. Not again. “No.”

“Shit,” Tony curses. “How many?”

“14,000,605.”

Peter Quill looks down at his shoes. He can barely think through his grief, but he still wants to be the alpha man with a plan. He still wants just death and destruction of Thanos, the man who took the love of his life. Strange can’t even blame him for that.

“So, we’re just giving up,” Peter Parker whispers. His faith still strong enough that he doesn’t want that to be the ending. 

“I can only view the futures from where we’re standing right here in this time.”

Tony closes his eyes. This has happened before too. Sometimes Tony knows what he’s supposed to say before everything goes blank as they reset time, and sometimes he doesn’t want to know what the option is, so he makes Stephen explain it in simple terms. 

Tony reaches for a rock to push himself to stay upright. “We need to go back in time,” he states. 

“I can take three. I have to be one of those three. Tony, you have to be one of them too, because and I stress this with absolute certainty, I cannot do anything if I do not have your support. Even if I take myself to a time when I still have my fame, I do not have the same influence as a Stark.”

“We have to change the timeline.”

“Yes.”

Tony turns to Peter Quill. “If we drag you back with us, will you come help us win this war after you save your girl?”

That’s not quite as normal. Only in a few universes did he start thinking of how to win once back into the past, rather than not wanting to leave the kid on the planet. Usually, Stephen has to spend hours holding Tony’s arms and forcing him to realize that they can’t leave a kid here, if they never end up here because they made a different path, a better path. 

Peter Quill nods. 

“Then, come find us after 2012. Strange, take us to 2007. I’m going to take a wild guess and say the two of us will meet up immediately and piece together what must still happen and what won’t happen this time. We will make a list of things to keep and things to throw away.”

Stephen nods. “Yes. Hopefully, that will be enough.”

With that, the three of them link hands, and Strange sends them back with all their memories to their bodies in 2007. None of them are happy, but they also are all in agreement with what needs to happen. 

He gets into the tower with ease as Tony escorts him from the entrance, teasing Stane about the fact that he needed to explore some of his wilder sides for a while. This feels so normal, but Tony doesn’t love him. That can’t happen, or it can, but that would involve Stephen admitting that he loves the man. 

Tony stops him once they’re on his floor with a hand to his chest. “Tell me honestly, Strange, was this the only way?”

“The only way I could see,” he answers honestly. The others weren’t universes where they won, except for one but that came at the cost of Tony Stark. The world didn’t deserve him, because he shouldn’t have to die to save the world every single time, because his team couldn’t let the world be heard. He deserved to live.

“Something changed in you while you watched the future. I’m not blind,” Tony argues. 

Stephen sighs. Because the truth must out, because once more Tony Stark proves why he is a genius with or without the armor. “The only constant in everything that I could follow was you. It didn’t matter what you did, you were always the deciding factors. If you died on Titan, then the worlds collapsed after Thanos, or in one notable occasion, we beat Thanos, only for the goddess of death to rule over all of us with a desire to make every mortal creature a slave.”

“Uhuh.”

“But that meant, I knew your life. I knew every decision you could make. I watched you live your life until you lost 14,000,605 times, Tony. You can’t do that and come out the same.”

Tony raises a hand and drags it over his face. “You’re in love with me, because I’m what you had to manage for the time searching to work.”

“More or less.”

Tony bites down on his lip. “This Tony, doesn’t love Pepper yet. We can make the whole dating thing, the primary reason that we’re together so often.”

“You love her though. I won’t take that from you.”

Tony shakes his head. “I can’t be the Tony she loved. Not when I’m from the future and telling her would risk everything. This is better. I can give you a shot. Now, those lists.”

That’s how they came to spend the weekend creating two lists. One of things that must happen, and one of things that cannot happen even if the world is burning down all around them. Plus, an extra list of things that they aren’t actually sure about at all. 

**Things We Must Achieve  
• Become Iron Man after Afghanistan.  
• Make sure that shield does not start the Avengers  
• Avengers team must be ready by 2012  
• Steve Rogers dug out from the ice  
• James Barnes pulled out of Hydra’s clutches.   
• Team is an actual team  
• Accords are drafted and signed by all countries, so when aliens become a normal thing, they have something that resembles a world-wide government  
• Thanos dies before getting the stones.   
• Save the brainwashed Loki**

**Things That Absolutely Cannot Be Allowed To Occur  
• The Civil War  
• Hydra gaining more control in government  
• All of the craziness surrounding the mutants  
• Splitting up any other teams  
• Do not pull in children  
• Do not allow Extremis to happen  
• Do not allow Ultron to happen  
• Stane’s shady dealings**

**Things that are not in either category  
• Strange’s accident   
• The alien invasion of 2012  
• Asgard being destroyed   
• Clint’s retirement **

Armed with those lists and nothing more. The two of them started working together to start work on some of the more big picture items. 

By the time that Iron man has emerged, Stephen and Tony are in love. Although for Stephen, he still feels as though he’s in love with the spiritual element of a man that he’s seen live through everything but the end of this universe. 

Tony teases him about it all the time, but usually, Tony will just kiss him until he recalls that they are in the here and now. One of the main reasons that Strange never goes to the sanctuary as a broken man is because Tony is the one pushing for him to be better than that. Things change. 

When Thanos finally arrives to Earth ready to steal three infinity stones. The Avengers stand to greet him, but the lineup is different than what he expected. Nothing remained the same. 

Leader of the avengers, Tony Stark aka Iron Man. He has the love of his life by his side, and he will not be pushed around ever again. Stephen Strange aka Sorcerer Supreme stands by Tony’s side with a hint of magic that isn’t of this time without any injuries that might cause him to stumble. Steve Rogers aka Captain America, only armed with a proper grip on reality and a really good therapist on speed dial. Bucky Barnes aka the Winter Solider, equipped with a much better arm, a healthy mental state, and a deep-seated rage against anyone who wants to conquer the world. Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow, who managed to get out of SHEILD before HYDRA made her lose the only moral compass that she had ever seen. Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, with a vendetta against aliens in general for being the mastermind behind his brief foray into mind control. Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch, armed with magic given to her by Hydra before she ripped out their throats when she realized they weren’t trying to save people. Peitro Maximoff aka Quick Silver, armed with a gun and speed that rivaled the best people on this planet. Sam Wilson aka the Falcon, armed with wings and a rough exterior when it comes to the invaders on any planet or any country. Thor aka God of Thunder, armed with his hammer and his army. Loki aka Reindeer Games, armed with magic, revenge, and a lot of pent up daddy issues. 

They weren’t even the only team there as the guardians led by Peter arrived just in the nick of time. Not to mention Charles Xavier and his x-men showed up for the mess to. Plus, the defenders, the armies of Migard with Rhodey right there on the front lines. 

Thanos lost, because Tony Stark had the right push years earlier to not allow the government to get their hands on the heroes of the world. Turns out that a single government corrupts, and America is not immune no matter how hard they try. 

Stephen and Tony marry each other the day after Thanos loses. It is a private ceremony, and when they kiss Tony pulls back and whispers to Stephen, words that would have made him lose it years ago. “I loved you back then, too. Turns out when we were traveling backwards, the stone thought I needed to see you through those universes. But, it was stressed upon me that I couldn’t say anything.”


End file.
